Moonstreak To Be Continued
by crysith.catul
Summary: Book Two Of my Alternate Universe Please read Book One first
1. Chapter 1

And life went on as it normally does. The gang graduated but Sam and Mikaela eventually broke up after a stressful mission to Egypt. Crystal and Mikaela still talked every once in a while, but Mikaela seemed to distance herself from everyone now. It was heartbreaking, but life went on.

Optimus' death was shattering, and then his resurrection was a miracle in itself. No one was ready to take the mantle of leadership. New autobots joined the ranks, and left to be stationed at other bases. They were all accepting of Moonstreak, who never left the original group of autobots he first made friends with. Crystal lived anywhere he and the group were stationed at. She kept her house, for those small breaks they got for R and R. Diablo passed away and Crystal refused to let Moon get her another pet. She flatly stated that he was enough of a puppy dog for her. One of her internet friends had passed away as well. All in all it was a stress full time for everyone. But life went on.

With the merging of Moonstreak's and Crystal's spark to heart, there were many other benefits to their transformations. Apparently not everything just happened to Crystal. After a week of testing performed by Ratchet, Moonstreak apparently, was growing. His body was becoming bulkier, his height taller and his limbs longer. His legs started to take a different shape. They looked like the back legs of an animal, maybe a cat or horse. They were constantly bent at the knee, the calf shaping back and the heal becoming a different joint that had his foot coming forward where he seemed to walk on his front sole and toes. An extra appendage made itself known during the course of a month, which became a long tail.

It was safe to say that his form of a Harrier was no long suitable for his bulk and size. Crystal helped him research other aircrafts but nothing seemed to suit either of them. They almost debated on Moon taking his own natural Cybertronian form but the military was unsure about whether that would be a good idea. Finally, they decided on a F35 Lightning II single seat jet. Larger than a Harrier and as long as Moon didn't grow anymore, it should be good enough for now.

Crystal, on the other hand, discovered that she did not have to sleep for almost a week. But if she wanted to sleep, she merely had to close her eyes and tell herself to go to sleep and boom, she was asleep. Her apparent insomnia was fixed. A streak in her hair started to lighten over time till it was just a stark white in her brown locks. She kept her hair short now, marveling at the simplicity and low maintenance of it. Moon was rather heartbroken, but that never stopped him from running his fingers through her hair. Their mind link was an added bonus that Ratchet was unaware of. Apparently the other mixed species couple he had told them about did not experience it like Moonstreak and Crystal did.

All in all they had to take the bad with the good. With Optimus' death everyone came to the conclusion that Optimus may not be around forever, and no one was willing to take up the mantle of Prime. Without Primus to deem any Autobots a Prime, Optimus was in essence, an endangered species.

The idea came across that some of them should travel to what was left of Cybertron and collect whatever data they could about their home before the Decepticons could. One item in particular kept coming up. The key to Vector Sigma. The only problem was, it cost a lot of government money to fly the autobots into space, let alone all the way to Cybertron. So Moonstreak volunteered to go on his own. Being a flyer he did not need NASA to send him in a space ship. The problem was, Crystal.

"We don't even know if you can breathe in the atmosphere." Ratchet had stated while rubbing his chin in deep thought about it.

"But we are bonded. Surely I can." Crystal wanted argue. This wouldn't be a dangerous mission. All the life on Cybertron had dwindled to barely any populace. She wanted to travel to the place Moonstreak had come from, maybe learn some more about him and his home. She also wanted to be of any kind of help she could to the Autobots. And this seemed like the least dangerous mission she could partake on.

Moonstreak was standing in front of Ratchet, Crystal on his shoulder. If he could take her to his home he was all about it. But Ratchet's concerns were sound. If she couldn't breath the atmosphere, it was doubtful that NASA had any equipment that would constantly give her oxygen for the length of time that they would be there. "It would be worth a try Ratchet. And if it is successful, it could help up in the future for any other missions that might come up." Que had fashioned a special, compact bow for her to use as a weapon. Moon had argued that a blaster would be much more efficient, but the female won. Que was quite ingenious how he went about it. It was nothing more than a small cylindrical rod. When activated it would expand to a faintly glowing bow. At each end light shot out to meet each other in the middle, providing the bow "string". No arrows were needed, all she had to do was grasp at the light, pull back, aim, and release. What shot forward was nothing different than a blaster's charge, and she got a kick out of it.

"Maybe, maybe not. Alright, take her there, but if she cannot survive, bring her back and we will schedule your departure for soon after your return." Ratchet sighed and walked over to his monitors on the wall, doing various calculations on the large screens. "All non-allied satellites are not in range, so I suggest you depart now."

"Understood. You will relay are project to Optimus when we leave?" Moon stated, rather than asked.

"Indeed. He would be most pleased if this works."

Moonstreak walked out of base and gazed up into the sky, a small smile on his face. "I think, for this trip, I will take on a more natural form."

"That would be incredibly sexy." Cry grinned at him, running her fingers over that protruding horn that had grown as well, feeling him shutter under her touch.

"It's been years, and I am still not tired of your touch."

Another thing the two had discovered is that Moonstreak did not have to set Crystal away before he transformed. Apparently his body knew where she was and transformed itself around her location, where she always ended up in the cockpit.

His more natural look was a compact yet bulky flying machine with down sweeping wings and tailfins that formed a triangle on his back. The cockpit was small and his nose blunt. He vertically took off and blasted into the sky, passed the clouds, the atmosphere, and into space. Crystal was awestruck. It was beautiful. Cybertrons view was beyond comparison. Moon landed and the view around them was that of ruins.

"All right, I'm going to crack the cockpit and let's see what happens." Moon said timidly. "Let me know, if anything."

"Alright."

Moon cracked his cockpit and there was a hiss from the sealed tight compartment. Crystal took a couple deep breaths, a small feeling of dizziness attacked her but quickly disappeared.

"I think, I might just be alright honey."

"Unbelievable."

Moonstreak made his way through the ruins, Crystal safely perched on his shoulder. They said that there would be vermin that remained on Cybertron. Insecticons and the like. Cry hoped they didn't run into any.


	2. Chapter 2

Moonstreak 2 Chapter 2

They had landed fairly close to the planet's capital. All that stood in their way was trying to find the entrance to the knowledge that they sought. Everything was in ruins. Walls crumbled, doors ripped from the seams. The sky was dark, overcast, a glooming vision to anyone that did not know of the war that took place on this now desolate planet. The one thing they hoped is that they would not have to be doing much digging.

Cry was taking pictures from her vantage point, a slight chill running down her arms. Moonstreak picked up on it and gave her a small sympathetic smile. As much as he loved his home, he did not wish for her to see it in this state, and she knew that.

"Cybertron used to be much more than what you see now. It was warmer as well." He muttered in a quiet voice.

"What kept it warm if there is no sun?" She asked while taking another picture.

"Primus himself. He lives deep in the planet's core. I suppose with the war and the loss of all his children he has gone into stasis, or maybe even off lined."

"But he's a god right? Can a god really die?"

"I'm not sure love. Perhaps, but then again, you are asking a question I think only he can answer."

"Mm." she grunted in thought and then went back to taking pictures. The pictures were really for her own record, but maybe the Autobots would like some mementos as the years passed while they resided on Earth. She knew the other team members would enjoy seeing where the aliens came from.

Moon stopped at a wall filled with what looked like hieroglyphs, but Cry knew they were words in Cybertronian. As Moon read them over she could faintly hear their translation in her head. His mind was whirling, apparently trying to decipher a form of riddle among the words. For something as important as what they were looking for, it only seemed plausible that it would not be easy to find, for anyone.

It wasn't until Moon placed his clawed hand on one certain glyph that there was movement around them. The wall seemed to vibrate under his touch and Cry sucked in a breath, her heart pounding a million miles a minute.

Twenty feet away, where the wall ended, the floor started to rise. The sound of metal scraping against metal rung out all around them. Debris that had gathered fell off of walls that started to form as the floor rose higher. If there was other life still on the planet, they knew they had company now. The screeching finally came to a halt, and what stood before them was what looked like a semi-truck trailer sitting out of the ground at an angle. Moon and Cry shared a glance with each other and then started to make their way towards it. When Moonstreak was but five feet from the door it opened on its own, faint blue light starting to illuminate along the ceiling, revealing to them that they would be going underground.

"So what exactly will we be picking up?" Crystal asked while she put her camera away.

"Vector Sigma is like a giant file that holds the collective knowledge of the Primes. It's a great abundance of knowledge that will not only help us now, but in the future since our new home is now Earth." They walked for what felt like hours, but may have only been minutes with Moon's giant steps. The walls offered no decorations to look at, the ceiling continue to glow an ominous blue overhead. Crystal realized she had been holding her breath and slowly let it out. Her nerves were on end.

Finally on the ground floor Moonstreak and Crystal were greeted with an amazing sight. The floor and room was completely untouched, clean, and gleaming in the faint blue lights overhead. In the very middle was an odd shaped piece of metal that had its own blue light pulsing brightly.

"What is that? Is that it?" Crystal's eyes were wide with wonder. She could almost feel a presence in the room, maybe coming from that very object.

"Yes and no. It's the key to Vector Sigma. Apparently someone was already trying to get to the information. Lucky for us, our job is already three fourths of the way done." Moon smiled as he started to walk towards the object. It completely dwarfed him in size, but as he grasped on side in his hand, the object itself started to transform until it was no larger than half Crystal's size. Moon's arm compartment opened and he slid the key inside. "Mission complete. Now, let's go home." He smiled at her.

As they made it to the surface they were attacked. They let their guard down and now a swarm of insectacons were charging them, firing random blasts as they ran and flew at them. Cry pulled out her bow and Moon bore his cannon and they fired. The insectacons were not entirely smart apparently, and were easy enough to take down, but there were just so many of them. No bigger than maybe a large dog, they looked like ants, or beetles. They leapt at Moon or chewed at his feet and legs. Moon switched from cannon to blade and swiped heads and legs off. As soon as a clearing made itself known he transformed and took off.

"Well that was interesting! Robot bugs, who knew?" Crystal gasped as she tried to catch her breath and tame her racing heart. She twisted in the cockpit to see if any were following in pursuit.

"So would now be a good time to tell you that there are robot dinosaurs as well?"

"What?!"

"Yes, in fact they..." Moonstreak suddenly cut off his sentence, seeming to be distracted by something.

"Moon?"

"Something, someone is trying to contact me."

"Is it base?"

"No, it's...I'm not sure. It's telling me where to go. It wants me to turn around."

"Well, maybe it's a tra..."

"By the Allspark! It's Primus!"

"What?!"

"Its Primus, he wants me to go to him."

Moonstreak banked, heading to another side of the planet. There were no insectacons following them, and if you could believe it, the area they were approaching was more foreboding then where they previously were. It wasn't until they saw the giant well in the ground that he descended, and entered it. They slowly traveled through tunnels, all the time Primus telling them where to go. Crystal could faintly hear him in Moon's head, but didn't dare speak. This was their god! Should she even be here? What if he didn't like humans? Oh no! What if he didn't like Crystal and Moonstreak being sparkmates! She became more nervous the farther they went. Moon noticed and soothed her. "Its ok love, just stay calm."

"Ok."

The tunnels finally stopped, and what came into view was more amazing then what they saw at the Vector Sigma. It was a giant metal orb, the core of their planet. Moon transformed in midair and didn't fall, just floated towards it. Crystal was still in his cockpit, which made up his chest components. Her hands and face plastered against the glass, looking at the very creator of the Autobots. The closer they got the orb started to glow and eyes, a mouth, started to form amongst the light. Before Moonstreak could say anything, the being started to speak.

"Long has it been since I have seen one of my children."

"My Lord, Primus. It brings me great pain to tell you what has become of you, our home, and our kind."

"Easy child. I already know what has happened. I have brought you here because all things must come to an end."

"I am sorry my Lord, I do not know what you mean."

"You have collected the knowledge of the Primes, my children have found a new home, and there is no longer a need for Cybertron to exist. It is time that I was put to an end as well."

"But my Lord, what of Unicron? What if he awakens and threatens our new home?"

"Good cannot exist without Evil. Unicron will meet his end, and I mine. Together we will join the matrix and a new age of Sentient Beings will emerge."

"A new age?"

"It has already begun. Unfortunately, with Unicron's destruction there cannot be two Primes at one time thereafter."

"Two Primes? But we only have Optimus Prime. He is the only one."

"No, he is not."

Moonstreak's arm seemed to open of its own accord and the Key slid out, floating in front of his face.

"My Lord, what are you doing?"

"Calm child. You will be my last gift to the cosmos. My last attempt at balancing Good and Evil."

"I don't understand."

"You will."

The light become so blinding Crystal had to cover her eyes and turn away. Moonstreak turned off his optics but the brightness seemed to still make its way into his processor, blinding him from everything. The feeling of weightlessness, then falling, then suddenly laying down on the ground but with no impact, and that's when they both blacked out.


	3. Chapter 3

Moonstreak 2 Chapter Three

Everything was cold, freezing. The pain in her head was a steady throb. She could vaguely hear Moonstreak, feel him in her mind. He was softly stroking her cheek with a clawed finger, urging her to open her eyes. "Come on baby, open your eyes. Come on." He continued to murmur until finally, her eyes fluttered open to an out of focus robotic face.

"Moon? What, what happened?"

When she sat up on her own he scooped her up in his hands and held her close to his chest. Opening his cockpit he eased her inside and closed the pod. It was freezing outside, a light snow falling around them. Crystal shivered violently in the cockpit as she tried to glance around at what she could, her vision coming somewhat into focus. Moonstreak activated his internal thermostat and raised the temperature to help get Crystal warmed up.

"Where the hell are we? Are we back on Earth?" Her teeth were chattering but she could feel Moon's hot air start to seep into her frozen skin.

"I am not sure. I have tried to get in touch with base, but I receive nothing but static. It's as if they aren't there anymore."

"Do you think the base was attacked? And they had to leave?"

"Unlikely, I have tried to hail them individually as well. Nothing."

Crystal studied her surroundings a bit more, noticing the trees. "Well, those look like Earth trees. Can you pin point our location?"

"No, and that is what troubles me. It is like my guidance system is not just recalibrated, but as if it was never programmed with Earth coordinates before. To know anything about where we are, we will have to go airborne."

Before Crystal could agree and tell Moonstreak that he could go ahead the sound of gun fire entered their hearing. Moon froze, head snapping in the direction it came from.

"Moon, that's human fire. We might be near civilization."

"Indeed. I will be careful." Moonstreak started to walk towards the sound that had alerted them just a moment ago. The snow covered ground provided a good muffler for metal clawed feet. Large trees helped obscure him from sight and he stuck close to them, careful not to break them off or scratch against them.

They were soon peering at two, male humans, each holding a rifle. One of the males squatted down, reaching his hand into a hole in the snow-covered earth. There were muffled gurgling noises, then a high pitched scream that almost sounded human. When he pulled his hand out it was holding a small cub around the neck. Crystal's blood froze in her veins. It was a snow leopard cub, and it was struggling to get free from the man.

"Easy love."

"Moon, they are poachers, we got to do something. That cub needs his momma!"

"I'm afraid his mother will be of no help to him anymore."

Crystal looked around, off to the side, half obscured by trees was the bloodied, lifeless body of an adult snow leopard. Crystal was enraged. "Just scare them off!" She yelled into the cockpit. Moon didn't argue, just stepped forward and waited for the men to take notice. And they did. The man holding the cub dropped it mercilessly to the ground and opened fire on Moon, the other man following suit. When they ran out of bullets they were looking at Moon with wide eyes and shallow breaths. Moon grinned evilly down at them, and took a step forward. That seemed to knock some sense into them, they finally turned tail and ran, stumbling over each in their haste to get away from the giant creature.

"Let me out!" Cry was still frantic. Moon stooped over and opened his cockpit, leaving just a small jump for Cry to reach the ground. When she reached the hole that housed the small cub, what she saw, she gasped. Two cubs were already dead, their thighs sliced, blood everywhere. Slicing the thighs was a tactic for skinners. And in that blood covered snow was the third cub, the one that had been in that horrible man's grasp. It laid there, disoriented from being dropped no doubt, shacking with fear. Cry did the only thing she knew to do. She gently picked it up and pressed it to her chest. Removing one hand she grabbed the bottom of her shirt and brought it up to cover the cub, giving it any sense of security she could. Moon scooped up Cry with the cub and nestled them into his cockpit. Turning away from the scene he was stopped when Cry let out a silent sob.

"Moon, bury them. Please?"

"Of course love." He didn't question her. Just dug a hole in the ground so the dead mother and her cubs could rest together. After he was done he transformed and took to the air.

The cub in Crystal's shirt was still shaking, but Moon's cabin was now pleasantly warm so she knew it was still scared and not freezing. It didn't scream, cry, or hiss, but just curled in a ball, shaking. She soothed it, murmuring sweet words while stroking its soft head. It was probably still relying on its mother for food, not old enough to go out on its own to hunt. Once Moon and Cry could get home she would do everything she could to make sure the cub was fed. Even if that meant buying a stockpile of baby formula. She would have to research what was healthier for it of course, but she would do anything, to keep the baby alive.

When Moonstreak broke the clouds he let out a sigh of relief. "Ah, there it goes. Apparently we were somewhere in Central Asia, in the alpine regions."

"What? Are you serious? So we are back on Earth."

"Yes, but something still isn't right."

"What is it?"

"I have the coordinates to the Autobots base, but when I execute them, it's not there."

"What do you mean it's not there?" Cry held the cub tightly and repositioned herself in her seat. It was obvious they were approaching the United States as California's coast line came into view. Moon didn't say another word and he neared the closest base the Autobots had, Nevada. And just as he feared, it was gone. Gone as in never having been there in the first place. No wreckage, no sign of a fight, it just never existed. Moonstreak and Crystal both passed worried thoughts to each other. There stark disbelief was not helping the situation. The only other option for them was to see if Crystal's house was there. If not, they had no idea where to go.

You could imagine the relief when her house came into view. If Moonstreak could not communicate with them for any reason, the barn, or as Crystal had understated it as being a shed, he had rebuilt into his own workstation could. Even Ratchet had helped him to make sure of that. They landed inside, Cry quickly existed Moon's cabin and went to take a seat at a run-down couch that Moon had thrown inside for the other humans to sit on when they visited with the Autobots.

Moonstreak went straight to his console and began typing away. He didn't speak a word and Crystal looked up at him when enough time had passed that she started to think he wasn't able to get through. Her fears were confirmed.

The feeling of suddenly being alone washed over them both. The cub must have sensed it because it began to emit small squeals until Cry tucked him closer and stroked his head again. "Moon, what did Primus mean. When he told you about being a gift? And a new age?"

"I don't know." Moon opened the compartment on his arm. "And the Key is gone. Perhaps, he did not send us home after all. But rather, another version of home."

"What do you mean? Like an alternate universe? But if that's the case, then why is my house still here? And what the hell does he expect us to do if it's just us?"

"Your house may be some kind of focal point that he designated. What we are doing here I have no idea. I am not sure what he meant by a new age either." A bright light burst from Moon's spark, lighting up the entire room and blinding Crystal. She turned her body away to protect the cub. Time seemed to stop and Moonstreak found himself speaking with Primus once more.

"Arise Lunar Prime."

And just as quickly, the flash of light was gone. Time continued on and Crystal turned to him with wide eyes. She didn't have to see anything to know what had just happened. Moonstreak, was now a prime.


End file.
